Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
(Jarrett and Payne 1995). Anxiety related to health status is the
second most frequent source of anxiety for patients receiving
treatment for cancer (Massie 1990). Some of the patients who were
interviewed described ‘cancer’ as such a ‘scary word’ to them.
Others described how they were ‘frightened that they would become
a burden on others during their chemotherapy treatment’. Therefore
it is important that patients are allowed time to discuss these issues
and that health care professionals are aware of the impact this
could have on patients’ well-being and imperative that it is
managed appropriately.
There is increasing evidence that cognitive behavioural techniques
for managing psychological difficulties are helpful (Moorey and
Greer 2002). These techniques have been shown to be easy to use,
for example relaxation and distraction, and have proven to be
effective in decreasing mild to moderate depressive symptoms
(Holland et al 1991; Satterley 2006). However these services are
not usually routinely available to cancer patients.
The enhancement of patient well-being through maximising
beneficial coping strategies is another means of reducing
psychological distress. Patients described how they used various
coping strategies to get them through their treatment. One of the
descriptions used was: ‘I had to change the way I did things.
Instead of helping others I found that accepting help from my
friends and family with household chores helped me to cope with it
all (FP2)’. Coping strategies are those processes people use to try to
manage real or perceived deficiencies between demands imposed
by a crisis such as a diagnosis of cancer and the resources available
to respond to it (Holland et al 1991).
For some individuals a diagnosis of cancer and its many associated
complications may reactivate a pre-existing anxiety disorder
(Krishnasamy 2001). Most of the patients said that their emotional
distress got better as they progressed through their chemotherapy
cycles as they knew what to expect but they also mentioned how
scared they felt as their treatment completion date was
approaching. This was confirmed by the quantitative analysis. The
psychological scores for both groups of patients from the RSCL
showed that their scores after the third cycle of chemotherapy were
lower than their scores at baseline (their emotional distress
improved as they progressed through their treatment) but then
their scores increased after the fourth cycle of their chemotherapy
as their completion date was approaching.
The anxiety scores from the HADS showed a statistically significant
difference between the mean scores between the intervention and
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